Chapter 299: Gratitude

Orlien raised one hand towards the All-father, calling onto the power of her authority. At once, transmitted everything she had seen earlier.

The memories flooded through Adam in vivid detail.

The battle against Samael. His transformation into that terrifying form. The futility of every attack thrown at him. Syqora’s desperate attempt to drag him through the portal, and the other portal Samael altered his course with.

Adam saw it all, and when Orlien withdrew her hand, he stood frozen in place with terror written across his face.

Aiden’s voice then reached out to him.

“Do you understand it now?”

Adam nodded, still visibly shaken by what he had seen.

Then his expression shifted as he spoke again.

“How will I know you won’t somehow change your mind about returning it?”

Aiden sighed heavily at that question.

“Right now, all I care about is defeating Samael. If the fallen angel wins, there wouldn’t even be a Grail to return.”

Adam stared at him for a few seconds before finally nodding his head as though agreeing.

After another pause, Adam immediately added, “Even right now, I cannot see Rhyos amongst us.”

He gestured around at the frozen gods nearby before continuing.

“And if these memories I just saw were of the future, then I can tell you for certain: Samael has taken him. And not just that… he has also extracted Rhyos’s divine power.”

Syqora’s head turned sharply toward Adam at those words. “How so?” He asked.

Adam explained. “That ability to make portals exactly like that is Rhyos’s power of gateways. It finally makes sense to me why Rhyos’s temple was in ruins when we arrived.”

He paused before adding, “Someone had forcefully taken him away. And that someone was Samael.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

It was as though at that point the dragons realized just how much more dangerous Samael could really become.

If Samael had already taken Rhyos and absorbed his divine power, then there was no telling how many other gods he might have targeted while they were distracted.

“It was a great idea bringing them here,” Thyron said to Aiden in genuine approval

Adam nodded in agreement.

“Truly, it was,” he said.

Aiden nodded in acknowledgment of their approval.

———

A few moments later, the flow of time had returned to the Pocket Domain, but not for everyone.

Lilith and Asahel were not part of those who had been unfrozen. Their bodies had been moved to a far distance within the pocket domain, relocated to a remote section where they remained suspended in stopped time.

An avatar stood guard beside them, watching over the frozen forms with unwavering vigilance. They were too high risk to be granted the leniency of being let to walk about freely.

Meanwhile, Adam was currently floating above the gathered gods, addressing them directly. His robes billowed around him as he spoke in a voice that reached the rest of the gods

The dragons stayed in one corner, watching him handle the situation.

It wasn’t the smoothest transition. Confusion and alarm had rippled through the gods the moment time resumed, and many of them demanded answers immediately.

A few gods expressed their concern openly, their voices overlapping as they questioned why they had been brought here against their will.

Adam raised his hand, calling for silence.

“Lilith was going to hand you over to the enemy on a platter,” Adam said, with his voice quelling most of the murmurs. “And this is only temporary.”

That was the last thing Thyron heard clearly before she turned back toward the other dragons, while Adam’s voice and the others faded into the background m

She started, “While he deals with that problem, when are we leaving for Ah’Me?”

Ah’Me was another word for the First Firmament. In fact, it was the original name for it, spoken in the ancient tongue of angels and the earliest of creations.

Aiden looked toward Adam and saw that he was handling things well enough, commanding the attention of the gathered gods without issue.

“We’ll go now,” Aiden said. “I also have an avatar here in case something goes wrong.”

The dragons all seemed to be in agreement.

For a second, Aiden thought of Laela and Arianna. He wanted to stop by Ravens Grave and see them, even if only for a moment, just to let them know he was all right.

But the fate of the world was at risk here. There wasn’t any time for breaks and as such he pushed the thought aside and focused.

With his power as Dominator of the Void and the one who knew all positions in the universe, all he needed was to focus his thoughts toward Ah’Me before stretching his hand out to make a portal that would lead there.

It wasn’t that the other dragons couldn’t reach Ah’Me without the effort of the space authority. They could.

But it would require an actual travel through space to the right destination at a certain hidden point of the universe, a journey that would take far more time than they had.

Aiden’s method was faster and almost Instantaneous.

A blue portal opened before them, swirling with energy as it stabilized into a gateway leading to the First Firmament.

Thera, who had been standing at a distance among the other gods, noticed the dragons were about to leave again.

In fact, Syqora had already stepped through the portal, disappearing into its glowing threshold with Thyron was proceeding next,

Thera immediately flew toward their position before Aiden could step through as well.

“Dragon Vessel,” she called out.

Aiden stopped and turned toward her.

He smiled a bit and said, “It’s Black Dragon now, not Dragon Vessel.”

Thera smiled back at him.

“In all of this,” she began in a soft voice, “I never really said thank you. As powerful as my kind is, our current survival now is all because of your efforts.”

She inclined her head respectfully toward him in gratitude.

Aiden nodded in acknowledgment.

“It’s alright,” he said.

Then he gestured his head toward the portal behind him.

“But I have to go now.”

Thera nodded. “I understand,” she said.

She stepped back and watched with a smile on her face as Aiden turned and walked through the portal.

He crossed the threshold, and then he was gone.

Thera stood there for a few seconds more, staring at the empty space where the portal had just closed from. Then sighed before turning back.

——

The portal opened into a realm unlike any other.

Aiden emerged into a space where the very air felt like a different type of divine. The sky above was not the cosmic expanse of stars and nebulae that hung over Eden.

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